Serengeti Sunrise - By Vivi Andrews Page 0,40

cool it was to be around “weres”.

“I don’t think so. I mean, Dr. B was always saying how the Organization had their heads up their you-know-whats cuz they were ignoring all the signs of were activity south of the Rockies. He says they were dumb to fixate on the wolves. Said,” Candice corrected after a moment, her eyes flicking sideways to Zoe before scuttling back to gaze worshipfully at Landon.

So the pride was safe. For now. As safe as they’d ever been. And more informed than they’d ever been.

Zoe shoved away from the wall she’d been propping up and slipped out the side door, restlessness driving her feet. She was halfway up the path to the infirmary before she realized where she’d been headed. Tyler was up there, getting patched up by the pride doc. He’d insisted Zoe be looked at first, idiot man, and after a nutrient shot and eating her weight in red meat, she was fine and dandy. While he still had a hole in him.

Zoe rubbed a hand against the pressure in her chest, turning and walking down the path away from the infirmary.

The jumbo-sized camping backpack that had traveled with her across the country was dusty when she pulled it out of her closet. Zoe brushed off the thick fabric and unzipped it, flopping it open on her bed. Packing wouldn’t take long. She didn’t have much she wanted to keep. Travel light. That was her motto. Easier to run that way.

When a soft tap came at her door, Zoe flinched, her hands freezing in the act of stuffing her rain poncho into a side pouch. She half-expected Tyler, though it was early yet for him to be released from medical. Her other instinct was Landon, but he must still be interrogating the prisoner.

She didn’t want to see anyone else. She didn’t particularly want to see those two either. She just wanted to go. And she didn’t want to think about or talk about why.

The knock came again, accompanied by “Zoe?” in Ava’s distinctive husky rasp.

“Shit,” Zoe muttered. Ava would look at her with those big, eerily ice-grey eyes, all wounded and shit that Zoe hadn’t planned on saying goodbye. Guilt rose up like bile and Zoe swallowed it down. One thing she wasn’t was a coward. “Come in.”

Ava opened the door just enough to slip her slight frame inside and shut it behind her, leaning back against the wood. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Zoe didn’t stop packing—a silent reminder to them both that she wouldn’t be talked out of going.

“I didn’t expect to find you packing,” Ava said softly. “Not after the way you came back.”

Zoe didn’t need the reminder of their dramatic return. She’d been dipping in and out of consciousness, but even she knew what it must have looked like. Tyler driving through the gates in the truck with the researchers’ trailer hitched to the back, kicking open the door and carrying Zoe to the infirmary, even though his shoulder was bleeding through the makeshift bandage Candice had rigged for him. The message had been clear to everyone who saw it—Tyler had saved her, saved them all. But instead of sending her swooning into his oh-so-heroic arms, Zoe couldn’t face him. She had to get out of here.

“Pride’s safe now,” she said shortly. “You have Candice and all the files those nutjobs collected on us. Landon doesn’t need me anymore.”

“Landon was pretty upset when the two of you vanished like that. We all were.”

“Tyler’s popular.”

“You are popular, Zoe. Sticking around for a few days to reassure your brother wouldn’t kill you. But I don’t think Landon is the only one who’s going to protest your departure,” Ava commented. “Zoe, I haven’t interfered in the past—”

“Then don’t start now.”

Ava ignored her. “I always figured whatever was between you and my brother was your business, but—”

“This isn’t about Tyler,” Zoe interrupted sharply. The words were only half a lie. It wasn’t entirely about Tyler. A lot of it was about her. Who she was when she was with him.

“At least talk to him before you go,” Ava urged. “He deserves that courtesy, don’t you think?”

“Tyler doesn’t want a mate any more than I do,” Zoe said harshly. “He’ll understand.”

Ava grimaced. “Maybe you’re right. He probably will. God, if two more commitment-phobic people ever existed on this earth…” She sighed, turning to go, but stopped to deliver one last blow to Zoe’s willpower. “If you guys weren’t so busy trying to prove how independent you are, you might